The Sholes Award is named for Milwaukeean Christopher Latham Sholes, who, in 1869, invented the first practical typewriter and is presented biennially for outstanding encouragement and support of Wisconsin writers.

Were soldiers scared in combat? What did “no-man’s land” look like? What did it feel like to be on a bombing run? Many traditional accounts of the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II fall short of answering these questions because they focus more on logistical and statistical history than on the kind of personal history shared when a soldier writes home.

Answers can be found in a new paperback edition of the Wisconsin Historical Society Press’s, Letters from the Front, 1898-1945 (Paperback, Retail $15.95) edited by Michael E. Stevens and first published in 1992. Here, ordinary men and women – American soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and nurses – reveal the thoughts and worries they had, and experiences they endured, in the letters they wrote during war.

The book explores how three wars (the Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II) changed the day-to-day lives of Wisconsin men and women and reveals the emotions they felt in uniform, in remote outposts, in combat, and even in prison camps.

Not only do the first-person narratives in “Letters from the Front” provide a social history of adaptation to military life, but they also document the changes that occurred over the half-century encompassing these conflicts, an era of immense technological innovation – and one in which America’s vision of itself also changed as it achieved the status of a great world power.

“Letters from the Front” puts faces and names to war in a way that many other military histories simply cannot and in doing so preserves unique war memories that cannot and should not be forgotten.

The Council for Wisconsin Writers announced today the winners and honorable mentions for this year’s Wisconsin Writers Awards.

The Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award goes to Chloe Krug Benjamin of Madison for The Anatomy of Dreams, (Atria/Simon & Schuster). There was no honorable mention this year.

John Hildebrand of Eau Claire is the winner of the Norbert Blei/August Derleth Nonfiction Book Award for The Heart of Things: A Midwestern Almanac (Wisconsin Historical Society Press). Tom Pamperin of Chippewa Falls receives honorable mention for Jagular Goes Everywhere: (mis) Adventures in a $300 Sailboat (Cedar Street Press).

Sean Bishop of Madison is the winner of the Edna Meudt Poetry Book Award for his book The Night We’re Not Sleeping In (Sarabande Books). Honorable mention goes to Angela Sorby of Milwaukee for The Sleeve Waves (UW Press).

Margaret Benbow of Madison is the winner of the Zona Gale Award for Short Fiction with “Joe Szabo and the Gypsy Bride,” (The Antioch Review). Liam Callanan of Milwaukee is the recipient of an honorable mention for “Exhibit A” (Commonweal).

Catherine Jagoe of Madison is the winner of the Kay W. Levin Short Nonfiction Award for her essay “A Ring of Bells” (Gettysburg Review). Patti See of Chippewa Falls receives honorable mention for her essay “Hunter’s Mother” (The WayFarer).

The Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award for five individual poems goes to Cathryn Cofell of Appleton. Honorable mention goes to DeWitt Clinton of Shorewood.

The winner of the $250 CWW Essay Award for Young Writers is Kade Byrand of Sheboygan, a sophomore at IDEAS Academy in Sheboygan for his essay “Shadow Dad.” Honorable mention goes to Erica Howe of Readstown, a junior at Viroqua Area Public School, for her essay “Narrowing it Down.”

Winners of the Wisconsin Writers Awards for work published in 2014 will each receive $500 and a week-long writing residency at Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point. Honorable mentions will receive $50. Out-of-state judges made the decisions for each award.

Daniel Goldin, owner of Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee is winner of the Christopher Latham Sholes Award, which recognizes a Wisconsin resident for outstanding encouragement and support of Wisconsin writers and carries a $500 prize, was announced earlier this year.

Awards will be presented at CWW’s annual Awards Banquet, May 16, at the Wisconsin Club in Milwaukee. Details are at http://www.wiswriters.org/2014%20winners.htm.

BRUCE DETHLEFSEN AND ​OPEN MIC AT HALF PRICE BOOKS, APPLETON: In honor of National Poetry Month in April, Half Price Books in Appleton will have it’s first ever poetry reading. Bruce Dethlefsen, Wisconsin Poet Laureate (2011–2012) has a new book out, Small Talk, published by Little Eagle Press (Ralph Murre, editor and illustrator). Small Talk is his third full-length book. ​After his reading, the audience is welcome to share original work or to read a favorite poem by an admired author. All poetry books at the store will be 20% off from 6:00-10:00 that night! Also, all open mic readers’ names will go into a drawing for a gift card at the end of the reading. Always free coffee in the store.

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APR 7, 7:00 PM, STUDENT INVITATIONAL​

NOTE: THIS DATE HAS CHANGED! The Foot of the Lake Poetry Collective in partnership with Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts presents a reading by area students from Lakeland College, Ripon College and Marian University. The reading begins at 7 p.m. with an open-mic following the featured readers. The event is free and refreshments are available. THELMA, 51 Sheboygan Street,Fond du Lac, WI. For more information call 920-921-5410 or email marywehner@charter.net.

Celebrate National Poetry Month with a reading and audience Q&A. Cathryn is the author of Sister Satellite (Cowfeather Press) and six chapbooks. Chuck is a UW-Green Bay Associate Professor of English and the author of war </war> and Tongue and Groove, both published by Main Street Rag. For more information call 920-448-4407 .

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APR 20, ​LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY STUDENT INVITATIONAL, featured at the WFOP Poetry Series at Copper Rock Café, 210 W. College Ave, Appleton. Plan to arrive by 6:45 or earlier to get refreshments and sign up for the open reading, with the reading beginning promptly at 7. For more information contact Sarah Gilbert at pses@sbcglobal.net.

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APR 24 ​Wine & Words Happy Hour, 4-5 pm​ at the Captain’s Walk Winery, 345 S. Adams Street, Green Bay: A unique event for the month of April in historic downtown Green Bay. Sample Captain’s Walk Winery’s New World wines in an Old World setting while enjoying the spoken word poetry of Nathan J Reid, poet, actor and singer from Madison., Wisconsin. www.nathanj.reid.com

APR 24, ​Bay Area Spoken Word Event, 7-8 pm ​at Barnes & Noble, 2498 S. Oneida Street, Green Bay: targets​ a younger adult audience looking for self-expression. Featuring Nathan J. Reid performing his spoken word poetry. Nathan will also demo and share his experiences with slam poetry, one of the most vital movements in poetry today. The event is open to whatever level of participation is comfortable for the audience.

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THE FOX CITIES BOOK FESTIVAL RETURNS: APRIL 20-26, 2015!

​This year’s featured poet is the nationally acclaimed​,​ knock-​your​-​socks off JERICHO BROWN!!

Poetry events occur throughout the week, with Saturday, April 25 declared as POETRY DAY! All events are FREE unless otherwise noted. Check out the brief schedule below, but be sure to visithttp://www.foxcitiesbookfestival.org/ for details, ​updates and information on all of the authors:

​10:30 am: Jericho Brown won the American Book Award for his first collection Please. His recently published second collection The New Testament has been called an “encounter [with] devastating genius.” Will hearing Jericho Brown read poetry change your life? Undoubtedly.

Noon: ​Kimberly Blaeser makes her first appearance in Appleton as Wisconsin Poet Laureate!

Two years before Wisconsin became a state, pioneers spoke of an institution to preserve the area’s already vast history for future generations. This spring, the Wisconsin Historical Society Press shares details of the institution that those foreword-thinking pioneers ultimately founded – The Wisconsin Historical Society – in a new book of the same name, The Wisconsin Historical Society: Collecting, Preserving and Sharing Stories Since 1846.

As the new book reveals, the Society’s story began during an 1845 conversation between two pioneers, Richard Magoon and Chauncey Britt, who were discussing the need for a preservation effort throughout the then Wisconsin Territory. That conversation launched a “preservation push” at a time when history was more about “being made” than “recorded.” Whole communities, many still forming, answered the call to collect their and their residents’ histories, and a newly founded historical society gathered those communal collections together.

This grassroots style of preservation was itself a new territory for historians. In a time when history collecting was largely reserved for noble, prominent, or wealthy families, Wisconsin set itself apart for generations by collecting the histories of “everyone” – farmers, merchants, Indians, soldiers, and more.

Author John Zimm, an editor with the Society’s Press division, traces the history of Wisconsin’s history from its inception, through its Depression days and trailblazing decades, and into its lasting resilience to provide history to Wisconsin residents and the nation.

Today, the Wisconsin Historical Society has grown into a nationally-renowned organization that serves 3 million people each year and offers a wide breadth and depth of resources and services that not only includes housing the state archives and the millions of genealogical and historical artifacts and documents that pioneering historians began collecting in 1846 but also includes the operation of:

Yet, for all its growth in the past 150 years, the basic mission of the Wisconsin Historical Society has remained largely unchanged from that initial, pioneering, conversation: To collect, preserve, and share the stories of Wisconsin, from every walk of life, in every corner of the state.

The history of the Society’s creation is a uniquely Wisconsin story – one that belongs to all who call Wisconsin home.

Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets’ Cathryn Cofell invites one and all to the launch of poet Sarah Gilbert’s new book. Here’s Cofell’s announcement:

Chapbook Release Party and Reading

Sarah Gilbert’s chapbook of poems from her cancer experiences, Tendril: Living With Lynch Syndrome , was published by Finishing Line Press in February. To celebrate, Sarah will hold a reception and reading in the Palmer Fellowship Room at All Saints Episcopal Church, 100 N Drew St, Appleton, 3-4:30 pm on Sunday, March 22, Lynch Syndrome Awareness Day. All are invited!

Prolific author and poet, and past CWW Book-Length Nonfiction contest winner, Paul Zimmer will be at The ARK, 401 East Jefferson St. in Viroqua on Saturday, March 21, at 7 p.m. to read from and talk about his new novel The Mysteries of Soldiers Grove.

Bramble Bookstore and Driftless Writing Center, which are sponsoring the event, say this about Zimmer:

“Paul has published twelve books of poetry, two books of memoir, and a book of essays. His writing has been awarded eight Pushcart Prizes, three for poetry, four for prose, one for fiction, and he was twice awarded Writing Fellowships from the National Endowments for the Arts. Paul directed three ongoing university presses, Pittsburgh, Georgia and Iowa, and initiated the Flannery O’Connor Award Series for short fiction at the University of Georgia Press. Along with the Pushcarts, Paul has received numerous awards for his writing: Award for Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters; five times named Notable Essay from Best Essays of the Year; and his book of poems, Great Bird of Lovewas selected for the National Poetry Series. Paul was at the atomic bomb tests, serving as a draftee in the army in 1954, and witnessed eight atomic explosions from trenches 1 to 3 miles from ground zero; a life changing experience. Paul has been a quiet neighbor here in the Driftless for over twenty-seven years. If you haven’t met him, please do.”

The event is free. While an RSVP isn’t necessary, it would be appreciated.